Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Anthropologie catalog came and I was inspired to journal. I planned on cleaning, organizing and getting rid of my junk, so I can actually start finding things. But what can a gal do when her head is full of inspiration?Journal. And that's what I did!

A few more pages for future journalling:

Note: The last page contains a picture from a catalog called Frontgate, I believe.

Oh and a couple of weeks ago, I went to a scrapbook expo. It was great fun to see new products and I totally love the scrapbook outlets and dollar shops! Every year though I let myself splurge in one of the regular, full-priced shops. This year Tattered Angels was the lucky shop. They sell glimmer mists in all kinds of colors.

I was truly inspired by the lady who demoed the mist by spraying and wiping and spraying and wiping a piece of crumpled paper with various glimmer mists. I thought what is she making? But whatever she was making created a beautiful effect. And so $90 later .... here are a couple of journalling pages:

(the cost also included beautiful chipboards which I am saving for something special.)

Like my daughter said, it's quite messy business. Fortunately I worked in the balcony. But more importantly, it was FUN!

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Paper Source Catalog came the other day and, as usual, it was rich in color and inspiring. I cut out a million birds out of that catalog ... I just couldn't stop. Initially I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all of them, because in my mind I really just needed one for one of my doodling scenes. But the following night I started painting and I just knew what I should do with (some of) those birds. Some of those birds also found their way into my journal and the rest was for my lucky daughter - who thought they were so pretty ...

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Now I must admit that I'm a "sew as you go" person. I don't use patterns and I don't plan or design much of what I make up front. I start with a piece of fabric (new or upcycled from our closet), decide roughly what I want to make (long dress? short dress? blanket?), cut a rough shape (I always cut big, because I prefer not to bother with zippers or buttons), then start sewing.

Sometimes I have been inspired by a blog and use whatever technique I have read about, like shirring or ruffling. So I do what I have to do ... shir or sew ends together. If I don't shir, I gather the fabric in such a way so that the clothes fit nicely.

Last but not least, I like to decorate the clothes a bit. Add a few beads, sequins ... a bit of stitching, whatever comes to mind at the time.

So here is what I have come up with:
(Oh and pardon all the messy hair. A certain someone loves to twirl and rub their hair for comfort.)